Boston Bruins
An influx of young talent and several tweaks from Marco Sturm has already raised the ceiling of this retooling Boston roster.
Matt Poitras and James Hagens have made immediate contributions to Boston’s lineup. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
October 19, 2026 | 11:54 AM
7 minutes to read
Marco Sturm and a retooling Bruins roster showed little signs of jet lag during their journey out to the West Coast.
For the fourth time in franchise history, Boston completed a road sweep of California-based opponents — posting wins over the Sharks, Ducks, and Kings last week.
In total, the Bruins are in the midst of a five-game win streak — outscoring opponents 25-8 over that stretch.
For all the valid questions regarding a Bruins team seemingly ripe for regression, Boston has impressed so far in 2026-27 — sporting a 7-2-0 record.
In some respects, Boston’s 3-0-0 showing in California has been a fitting microcosm of how this season has gone for a roster showing signs of continued growth.
As the Bruins prepare to close out their extended road trip on Tuesday in Dallas, here’s what’s gone right for Boston so far out west.
The kids are (more than) alright
Be it David Pastrnak serving as Boston’s offensive-zone cheat code, Jeremy Swayman bailing out Boston’s defensive faults, or Charlie McAvoy anchoring the team’s D corps, the Bruins — as currently constituted — have enough established stars at critical positions to field a competitive team on most nights.
Relying on those stars — along with supporting contributors like Morgan Geekie, Hampus Lindholm, Pavel Zacha, etc. — might be enough for the Bruins to hold court as a playoff team, as they did last season.
But if this team wants to make major strides and assert itself as an ascending contender, it’ll need a crop of younger skaters to make an impact.
Look no further than the start of this campaign —where the steady contributions of several youngsters have been a breath of fresh air for a team once mired in prospect purgatory.
Boston’s three wins in California stand as proof of a burgeoning youth movement.
Against the Sharks on Tuesday, newly anointed top-six pivot Fraser Minten led the way with a two-goal night.
In Friday’s comeback in Orange County, Michael DiPietro secured his first NHL win between the pipes with a 26-save performance, while rookie blueliner Frederic Brunet tallied his first NHL goal on a power-play change-up from the blue line.
James Hagens added a pair of helpers, with the final being a sweet feed off an odd-man rush with Matt Poitras — capped with Poitras tucking the puck past Lukas Dosta for his third goal in five games.
And on Saturday in Los Angeles, 24-year-old Marat Khusnutdinov broke a 1-1 stalemate with 6:25 left in regulation, jamming home a loose puck after Poitras fished it out near the blue paint.
Marat is left ALL ALONE in front and he gives the Bruins the LEAD with 6 minutes left
Kings are now down 2-1 late and are the only NHL team still without a win pic.twitter.com/s3Bb0iL2K4
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 18, 2026
Boston’s next wave of young talent is making their presence felt right off the bat.
Through nine games, Boston’s top point producers at 5-on-5 play per 60 minutes are:
- 22-year-old Matt Poitras (4.85 points per 60 minutes)
- 22-year-old Fraser Minten (3.06 points per 60 minutes)
- 19-year-old James Hagens (3.0 points per 60 minutes)
Hagens is tied for second in rookie scoring with six points in nine games. Minten is on a 70-plus-point pace in his second full NHL campaign, while Poitras is now up to five points in his first six games of the year.
And Brunet — averaging 17:01 of ice time per game – has yet to be out on the ice for a 5-on-5 goal against in over 85 minutes of game action.
Last year, the Bruins’ hopes of securing two points usually relied on Pastrnak, Geekie, and Boston’s power play to generate enough offense.
Pastrnak is still doing plenty of damage. But now, it feels like two or three fresher faces are chipping in and making a major impact with each new game.
It’s a promising sign for a Bruins team looking beyond just the immediate returns of 2026-27 as part of a larger retool.
Sturm deserves plenty of credit
Sturm helped Boston navigate a season seemingly destined for pain in 2025-26 — getting a ragtag roster to buy into his message and grind their way to a 100-point campaign.
But it’s a testament to the job Boston’s head coach has done that he hasn’t echoed last year’s message in 2026-27. Rather, he’s built on it as the Bruins continue to inject new blood into their roster.
So far, Sturm has shown a willingness to embrace the growing pains of a youth movement—empowering Boston’s crop of youngsters and putting them in favorable positions to succeed right out of the gate.
It’s a departure from previous regimes in Boston, with a player like Brunet starting training camp alongside an established star like McAvoy and Hagens opening the regular season next to another top young talent like Minten.
Sturm’s early-season lineup reshuffle has also yielded promising returns, with Elias Lindholm seemingly finding his second wind in a third-line center role (five points in his last five games).
A late-game lineup tweak on Saturday from Sturm also helped spark Boston’s go-ahead goal against the Kings — with a reworked second line of Geekie, Poitras, and Khusnutdinov teaming up for that third period goal after a de facto top line of Pastrnak, Minten, and Geekie labored for an extended stretch.
Sturm also deserves a few stick taps for not being afraid of rattling some cages when it comes to challenging veterans and prioritizing the youth — be it slotting out Sean Kuraly in place of Poitras or choosing to scratch Nikita Zadorov for Saturday’s game in Los Angeles.
“Z’s a tremendous player and leader for our team. I think we’ve been mentioning for a while his discipline on the ice,” Sturm said ahead of Saturday’s game of Zadorov, who took an undisciplined double-minor penalty against the Ducks. “That’s something that just needs to be better. He was not happy. But he’s a great human being and he’s a competitor. I do believe he’ll become stronger after this message, be back to normal and be even better after that.”
It’s a bold move to sit out an established veteran like Zadorov. But it’s a shot across the bow to a group of veterans to stay dialed in on a rapidly changing roster—while also reinforcing the standard that needs to be set for that growing group of youngsters.
Pastrnak still has more to give
Pastrnak’s baseline stats so far this season are definitely par for the course for what’s expected from the superstar forward (12 points in nine games).
But Boston’s new captain still has a lot more to give at 5-on-5 play — a sentiment that could be either a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty approach, depending on how sunny your disposition is about the local hockey club.
If you’re looking for the positive stance, it seems all but inevitable that Pastrnak will begin tilting the ice significantly in Boston’s favor at 5-on-5 play.
For now, he’s doing a lot of damage on the power play (three goals, two assists), but Boston has only outscored opponents, 5-4, in its captain’s 140 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time.
Finding the proper center to push the pace next to Pastrnak seems like a work in progress — one further complicated by Pavel Zacha’s day-to-day status due to an upper-body injury.
It’s worth noting that a reworked top line of Pastrnak, Peterka, and Minten was very impressive over the final period of play on Saturday against the Kings.
Lohrei’s resurgence
Plenty has been made about the unexpected and immediate contributions from Boston’s younger crop of skaters.
But what about Mason Lohrei’s bounce-back campaign so far?
After getting scratched last year during the playoffs, Lohrei seemed stuck in limbo this offseason — with a starting role far from guaranteed on a crowded D corps moving forward.
But credit to the 25-year-old, who has been ready and willing to push the pace and activate off the blue line this year on a far more assertive, dynamic defensive corps.
While Lohrei’s immediate offensive production (two goals, five points in nine games) has been a welcome sight, he hasn’t been burned in the D-zone, either.
A puck-moving defenseman like Lohrei can get caught out of position or fumble the puck at an inopportune time. Still, it hasn’t led to any fires around Swayman or DiPietro — with Boston outscoring teams, 5-0, in Lohrei’s 140 minutes of 5-on-5 reps.
Whether it’s his adherence to Matt McIlvane’s defensive tweaks or his strong rapport with Brunet, Lohrei has looked like a completely different player so far this season.
Finishing strong
Be it a pregame meal of In-N-Out or some extended jet lag, the Bruins haven’t had the sharpest of starts out on the West Coast — trailing 2-0 after 20 minutes in Anaheim or relinquishing a goal just 31 seconds into Saturday’s game against Los Angeles.
The end result was still two regulation wins, largely because the Bruins lit the lamp three times in the third period of both games.
Starting with Minten’s late-game tally in Boston’s season opener against New York, the Bruins have largely dominated the third period this year — outscoring teams, 16-5, over the final 20 minutes of play.
It’s the best third period goal differential in the league, with the Bruins also one of just three NHL teams with at least seven wins on the year — joining the Hurricanes and Golden Knights.
“We’re seeing a team that never gives up,” Sturm said on NESN after Saturday’s win. “It doesn’t matter how bad we start sometimes, and if we’re behind a goal or two — we just keep playing our game. I think each period, we’re just getting better and better.
“Goaltending again was a big key to our success, but it’s just another great team effort. That’s the Boston Bruins right there.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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